Car combat titles seem to suddenly be in vogue these days, with a number of smaller titles looking to ride the coattails of Twisted Metal to some semblance of marketplace success. Wheels of Destruction follows in the footsteps of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited and Smash N Survive, though no doubt hoping to achieve at least a solid showing to warrant a glance, unlike the latter two.

Although rocking a budget price point, with marketplace offerings delivering more comprehensive experiences these days, it's a shame to see Wheels of Destruction falling a little flat in the content department. For starters, there are only three game modes to speak of - Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag - across five maps. It's important to remember that this is a marketplace title, but even so...the lack of variety is somewhat distressing.

Ubisoft has confirmed that I Am Alive, the raw and uncompromising survival simulator, will release on PSN in a fortnight's time. It's officially dated for April 4th - and PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to snag themselves a 20% discount.

A haggard survivor clutches a machete in his trembling hands as you slowly advance towards him. He's done well to survive this long in Haventon, months after 'The Event' turned your hometown into a living hell of choking dust, violent looters, food shortages and earthquakes. "Just keep on walking," he shouts, voice quivering, and you briefly consider it. He's no threat, after all, just another broken man alone in an unremittingly hostile world. You could walk away and never see him again.

But after a near fatal run-in with some depraved scroungers, you desperately need the medical supplies stashed in his makeshift rooftop camp.

Your pistol is empty, but the survivor doesn't know that. Calling his bluff, you raise it and order him to surrender, yet he doesn't cave. He's been through too much to back down, and matches your gaze in a grim stalemate. Knowing that he'll attack the moment he realises your deception, you shout at him to back up to the edge of the rooftop, close the gap and kick him into the yawning chasm below. A single bottle of painkillers is your sole reward for killing an innocent man... but tragically, the decision was probably the right one. Who knows when or even if you'll find more supplies? You'll survive. And that's what matters.

This is just a single optional encounter in I Am Alive: an unflinchingly raw survival simulator that's unlike anything else on the market.

Closure won big at the DICE Summit 2012 Indie Games Challenge, and we're delighted to report that this exciting boutique platformer has been officially dated for PSN. SEN. Whatever. Regardless, Eyebrow Interactive has confirmed that their monochrome masterpiece will be available to download from March 27th in the US, with a European launch presumably following a day later.

Closure takes place in a black and white world where you have to see objects and platforms in order for them to exist. We've got a launch trailer below that explains the concept in more detail.

Ubisoft has revealed Babel Rising: an SEN/XBLA 'God Game' that tasks players with stopping humanity from constructing the blasphemous Tower Of Babel. You'll use Kinect or PS Move support to crush the puny humans and their idolatrous edifice, with gameplay that builds on Bulkypix' original mobile title.

After yesterday's public service announcement, declaring that the PSN was going offline from 16:00 GMT this evening, Sony have released another statement to say that the maintenance will be postponed until a later date.

There's no new date set as yet, but the good news is PSN users will now be able to game as normal this evening. Yay!

Hits Next Week

Killzone 3's multiplayer suite will be releasing as a free PlayStation Store download next week, confirms the PlayStation Blog podcast. This "standalone" gameplay experience contains all the maps and modes of the full version - though as you'd expect, ships with a level cap that can be lifted with a one-off payment of $14.99. European pricing and release details are still TBA, but we assume that Sony plan to roll out the package next Wednesday.

Considering that you can pick up a copy of Killzone 3 for between £13-£15 at the moment, this offer isn't particularly good value, but will be useful as a free demo.

It's Wednesday, which means that it's time for the big ol' PlayStation content splurge. By far the biggest event is that the Starhawk beta will now accept all comers - so get on that before it expires on March 7th. Similarly, the new SSX demo is also going to be available for a limited time. Smoke 'em while you've got 'em.Not literally, though, because that wouldn't make any sense and would be a waste of a perfectly good hard drive.

Deals and special offers are a bit on the limp side even if you happen to be a Plus subscriber. If anything, I'd direct your attention to Half Minute Hero and Crazy Taxi.

Oh, and apparently that Vita thingy is out today... which means that Motorstorm RC is out too. £4.79 for both PS3 and PS Vita versions has got to be good value.

As always, we've got the full roundup below sans ratings and file sizes courtesy of the EU PlayStation blog.

Tim Schafer has been hitting the headlines recently with his studio Double Fine after the success of the developers' Kickstarter project, that's just broken the $2 million mark at the time of writing. Having recently embraced self-publishing, Schafer suggested that the closed systems of Microsoft and Sony are far less appealing nowadays.

PSN Is Dead. Long Live SEN!

The PlayStation Network has been formally rebranded to become the Sony Entertainment Network as of today, thanks to PS3 firmware update v4.10. As well as changing the name (excuse me if it takes me a while to adjust, I'm set in my ways), the new firmware also optimises the web browser to make it display content-rich pages much more accurately. Users have reported that sites like Youtube and Twitter now run much faster. The system clock can now be automatically set via the internet every time you log onto PSN - which can be activated by browsing into your 'Date and Time' settings.

You'll need 180MB of free space on your PS3 hard drive or flash drive, depending on how you prefer to deal with your updates.

The PSP has also been updated to v1.60, which adds a new map app on top of the SEN rebrand.

Too Many Acronyms IMO

Just in case you didn't know, the PlayStation network will be absorbed into the Sony Entertainment Network this Wednesday - with player accounts transferred over to and aligned with the new platform. Aside from the rebrand (we're going to need some new logos, drat), there won't be any functional difference to the way you access your account or content once this week's firmware update rings the changes.